The Scottish Government’s record of housing delivery and its commitment to achieving its future completion targets have been outlined in a new report.
In its Infrastructure Investment Plan progress report, economy secretary Keith Brown said that exceeding its previous target to deliver 30,000 affordable homes from 2011-2016 was a particular highlight for the government.
By the end of March 2016, the minister said, a total of 33,490 affordable homes were delivered, 22,523 of which were for social rent, including 5,992 council homes.
He added: “Building on this success, we and our partners want more homes delivered across all tenures and are pursuing this through More Homes Scotland; an overarching approach we launched in March 2016 to support increased housing supply. During the current parliamentary term, 2016-21, our target is to deliver more than 50,000 affordable homes, backed by investment of over £3 billion.”
According to the report, key elements of the government’s plans for the current parliamentary term include:
For 2016-17, the Housing Supply budget has been set at £690 million. This includes investment of £365m grant funding in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and represents a 42% increase on the previous year. For 2017-18, the overall Housing Supply budget has been set at £699.704. This includes investment of £375m grant funding in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme – a £10m increase on the equivalent 2016-17 figure.
The target to deliver more than 50,000 affordable homes will support approximately 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs a year in the construction and related industries in Scotland and will generate around £9bn of economic activity over the five-year life of the programme.
In January 2016, an increase in housing grant subsidies by up to £14,000 for social and affordable homes was announced. This is helping councils and housing associations to maintain momentum to help deliver the 50,000 affordable homes target.
A programme to Achieve Excellence in Housing Development is underway to help build the capability of the affordable housing sector to ensure best value and deliver the widest benefits possible from the increased housing investment.
£160m made available in 2016-17 to help up to 5,000 people access homeownership. £70m has been allocated to the Open Market Shared Equity scheme to help up to 2,000 first time buyers on low to moderate income and £80m was allocated to the Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordable New Build and Smaller Developers Schemes to help up to 3,000 first time buyers and existing homeowners buy a new build home.
Last year a new grant and loan Infrastructure Fund was launched with up to £50m available for 2016-17. Working with local authorities, this is providing targeted assistance to help unlock strategically important housing sites and increase the scale of housing delivery. Loan funding was awarded to Grandhome in Aberdeen and grant funding to Glasgow City Council for affordable homes at Maryhill Locks.
Invited and progressed assessment of novel Mid-Market Rent proposals which have the potential to deliver large-scale investment and expand the supply of affordable homes. In 2017-2018 the government will complete due diligence and agree funding for supportable proposals that will deliver new affordable housing at scale.
Followed up support for the growth of the private rented sector (PRS). A PRS Rental Income Guarantee Scheme, developed with Homes for Scotland and industry specialists through the PRS working party, is currently being finalised.
Consulted local authorities, Registered Social Landlords and others in 2016 on the resources, skills and expertise they need to help build delivery capacity and to identify where the critical gaps are and how best to fill them. Supported a Highland Hub to enable strategic engagement between the Scottish Government, local authorities and delivery partners. In 2017-2018 the government will provide a central resource to support and advise local authorities on land assembly and Compulsory Purchase Orders to enable housing delivery.
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